PRESS RELEASE NO. 26/2021 “Where employees can effectively advocate for their interests, populism and hate speech have less of a chance”

Frankfurt am Main – On the occasion of tonight’s discussion event “What Makes the East Tick?” featuring the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Eastern Germany, Marco Wanderwitz, IG Metall has criticized Wanderwitz’s recent remarks. Wolfgang Lemb, Executive Board Member of IG Metall: “To claim that large segments of the East German population are somehow unfit for democracy due to their ‘socialization under a dictatorship’ is neither correct nor helpful in combating the far right.”

Rather, many people in the eastern part of the country still feel left behind and inadequately represented. IG Metall points out that collective bargaining coverage in the east remains lower than in western Germany, resulting in lower wages and longer working hours. In some cases, the formation of works councils is also prevented through deliberate union-busting. Furthermore, strategic decisions regarding the direction of companies and entire regions—which are so crucial during this period of transformation—are often made at corporate headquarters in western Germany. This gives rise to fears and concerns stemming from experiences during the post-reunification period.

“All of these are factors that serve as key indicators of voting behavior among people in eastern Germany and that urgently need to be addressed in order to establish comparable working and living conditions. The younger generation, in particular, is quite rightly demanding this. The Commissioner for Eastern Germany should highlight this,” said Lemb.

In this context, IG Metall also refers to the Leipzig Authoritarianism Study published by the Otto Brenner Foundation. Last year, researchers there demonstrated a clear correlation between the experience of having a say in the workplace and trust in democracy.

“That is also our experience in the workplace. Where employees can effectively advocate for their interests through their workplace and union representatives, populism and hate speech have less of a chance—in both the East and the West,” said Lemb.

Further information and press photos of Wolfgang Lemb